July reflection

July started off slowly as we returned from Turkey and settled back into our daily routines, but it quickly ramped up again as we began preparing for our permanent return to Scotland.

The end of my first sober holiday

I don’t want to bang on too much about this trip, because I’ve already mentioned it in my last couple of posts, but our Turkey trip for 2026 concluded this month, and it was my first adult holiday without alcohol.

I pretty much knew from the beginning that holidays would be the ultimate test. Something about the heat, the goal of relaxing, being around friends and family - it all feels so tied to having a beer and switching off. I came close to cracking, especially on boat trip day, but putting all the health benefits aside, I also just wanted to prove to myself that I could do it. And I did.

And you know what? In the end, it may have been the most relaxing holiday I’ve ever had!

I lay by the pool drinking Turkish tea, sometimes a cheeky “malt drink”, and reading during the day. We went out for breakfast or lunch. I never had a hangover battling against me as I tried to start the day, and I never had the “one more beer” demon forcing me out later and later.

Granted, I did end up home earlier than usual most nights, and I definitely missed having a beer by the Dalyan River and watching the world go by. But I swapped the beer for “Peja Zero”, a Kosovan AF beer, and although it wasn’t exactly world class, it filled the void well enough.

Back to work

Getting back to work was weird. The difference two weeks can make in the age of AI is quite startling. Lots of new ideas and even more new code - AI can really transform your codebase in a short space of time. Throw in the fact that I’m leaving my job in September, and my motivation to get back up to speed, and then stay up to speed, was at an all-time low. But that’s not exactly unusual - I think most of us feel like that for a couple of days after returning from holiday.

Soon enough, I was back in full flow, probably more productive than I’ve been in a while as I try to wrap up my initiatives and leave things in as good a state as I possibly can before I go.

Remote flat viewing

Although our initial plan was to stay in a family member’s spare bedroom, we couldn’t help ourselves and started browsing flats for rent in Scotland.

Browsing inevitably led to finding, and before long both of our mothers had been tasked with viewing two separate properties for us. The idea of arriving straight into our own apartment became more and more appealing, especially for me, as I was keen to have my own office space and make settling into a new role a bit easier. I have been considering co-working spaces, or which spare bedroom I can work from, and from which hours - that might be fine eventually, but I want to start strong and make a good impression.

Viewing homes over video chat was weird. It’s helpful, because you can have a nosey around from another country, but you can’t get a sense for the building, the neighbourhood, the noise levels, or how squeaky the floorboards are. You place a fair degree of trust in the people holding the camera, but luckily for us, it was our mothers, and they were hardly going to wave us into some damp wee cave.

Box by boring box

July also marked the month that things started to feel real from the Berlin side. As the month closed, piles of cardboard boxes began appearing around the house as we worked out what we still needed now versus what could be packed away.

We also started keeping an inventory of everything, because apparently it wasn’t bad enough that Brexit stopped my HP Sauce deliveries - now they’re making it a pain in the arse to move home with our possessions too.

Reading

Despite being busy, I did get one book read this month, which was James by Percival Everett, a reimagining of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Admittedly, I’ve not read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, but I thought it might be interesting to do it in reverse order. I quite enjoyed the book, although at times it was a hard read because of the historical realities it deals with.

I also began reading Blue Moon by Lee Child which I should finish off next month.

Wrap up

In some ways, it felt like a bit of a non-month that passed us by quickly. In other ways, it was the month our next chapter started to feel a bit more real.